


Ariksar of the Quartz Heart

by noisys



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Angst, Au Ra Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Au Ra Xaela (Final Fantasy XIV), Backstory, Dark Knight Questline (Final Fantasy XIV) Spoilers, Dark Knight Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Gen, Male Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Minor Original Character(s), Other, Post-Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood, References to Stormblood's Azim Steppe lore, Spoilers for DRK lvl 60-70, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:08:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27224023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noisys/pseuds/noisys
Summary: The question of belonging had always bothered Ais, for he has no recollection of his past before the calamity. He knows for certain that he never belonged in the Steppe. Through becoming a Dark Knight, he gets ever closer to finding out the truth of his origins.
Relationships: Sidurgu Orl & Warrior of Light
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Ariksar of the Quartz Heart

**Author's Note:**

> This would be my first work here and it is the 3rd version of whatever I've written for Ais' backstory thus far, and I feel satisfied enough to post it!
> 
> This is somewhat canon-compliant and follows the timeline from before the 7th umbral calamity to the present. Ais is roughly 23 at present and is typically a Summoner.
> 
> This happens post 5.0 as I only picked up DRK then (haha), and it focuses on the DRK lvl 60-65 quests. There are no Shadowbringers spoilers.
> 
> This is not a shippy fic - just one about realisation and acceptance. A bunch of what Sidurgu says in the first half is lifted off the original questline dialogue, so I take no credit for those!

"Wielder of dark arts! Consort of dragons! I will bring you to justice, even if it costs me my life!" The temple knight spat at him with such seething fury, Halone could have been proud.

"Shall we oblige him, then?"

A voice he'd never heard before. He turned to the direction of where it came from, and there stood a white-haired Xaela, clad in black armor and wielding a greatsword. Teal limbal rings of his eyes glowing through the slight fog. He took slow steps towards Ais and the knight, taking his time with confidence in his stride.

An Au Ra? A Xaela just like him in the middle of Coerthas? That was all he could think of. Who cares about the knights who lured him out to kill him, that wasn't important. But to find an Au Ra? What are the odds here?

Ais had barely noticed when the knight ran for his life, even though he was the one who spared him.

"We who consort with the darkness are never truly whole. There will ever be a part of us yearning to be free."

He seemed to know Fray, surprised even, to find out that Ais knew him too. Ais shot him a questioning look, wondering if this guy was really out here in the snow to save him, or to end him just like the knights wanted to.

"There is a matter I would discuss with you, but not here."

A hint to follow him, then. He turns around and walks in the direction of Ishgard. 

_________

Sidurgu. The name felt familiar, as if the name had rolled off his tongue before. Sidurgu spoke of the Dark Knight's order, and presented Ais the sword of the knight who vowed to take his life shortly before.

"That's right. I followed him and gave him the 'mercy' he truly deserved!" Sidurgu spat, with his brilliant teal eyes burning into Ais' own. Ais studied the sword in an attempt to escape the gaze.

"The first Ishgardians to encounter Au Ra saw Dravanians. We had fled Garlemald's armies only to come to a land where we were mistaken for another nation's mortal enemy. They bared steel and came to kill us...but we did not die so easily."

"So tell me- Ais, was it? You, an Au Ra, a Xaela like me no less. An unconventional name. Where did you hail from? Were you aware of the Ishgardian's deeds?"

It was a lot to take in. A Xaela tribe that had fled to Coerthas... could this be a lead? Meeting another Xaela was dizzying enough, but this information was not what he'd expected today when he was lured out to be executed. ' _The answers really come to you when you aren't searching for it_ ', he thought to himself bitterly.

"I... have no recollection of my past. Ais was a name given to me by a fellow adventurer, nothing more than that. I woke up on a ship heading for Limsa Lominsa, and I have been looking for answers ever since," Ais looked away, staring at the dancing flame of the candle between them.

He looked up and subconsciously hugged himself, "I have met with our people in the East, yet I do not feel like I belong. I feel like I belong only in Ishgard, in Coerthas."

Sidurgu studies him for a moment, expression replaced by frustration and his voice turning into a sneer. "We spared them and sent them on their way... and how do you think they repaid our kindness? With fire and blood, Ais! With death for every man, woman, and child! You say you feel like you belong here, yet they treated our people in this fashion. How are you so sure, hero of Ishgard?"

Ais bit his lip, closing his eyes. "I am not, but my instinct has ever been my only clue and guiding light."

Sidurgu lets out a stuttered breath, "Make no mistake," he whispered and looked around the tavern warily before turning back to Ais, "these are the wages of mercy. If you would walk the path, then you must accept this truth, for your enemies already have. Warrior of Light and Darkness, your deeds for Ishgard have not changed the minds of many in the temple knights, many still look upon our kind in fear and hatred."

Ais gripped the edge of the table, the weight of his words like a sudden pull of gravity. There was no denying that plenty of Ishgardians saw the Au Ra for heretics or monsters. But what would it matter? He could fight them off any day. Things would take time, just as Aymeric said. 

The matter of belonging though, where does the Warrior of Light belong in this world?

"I am not one to judge you for your acts of 'mercy', for I have slain many before me. Though I seek your help, to help me remember my past. You know more than anyone else." Ais looked up into the teal eyes, his tone just short of a plea. 

Sidurgu huffed, looked at the young elezen girl beside him and back to Ais. "Mayhap the way of the Dark Knight shall aid you, then."

_____

"Ais, I had been meaning to find you. I need to discuss something, urgently." 

Ais jumped and turned around, not expecting the taller Auri behind him. Sidurgu stood tense, and he spoke with his voice drawn taut. It seemed serious enough.

"Give me a moment, I'll turn this piece in at the Firmament and return. Where are we headed?" Ishgard was not going to restore itself, he mused. 

"This would take a manner of privacy, I'd suggest one of the rooms in the Forgotten Knight." Ais gives Sidurgu a look, opens his mouth to tease but pauses when he remembers that this guy is not one to fool around. Not on purpose, anyway. "Alright. I'll meet you by the innkeep."

____

Sidurgu leans against the cabinet by the window, while Ais gives the bed a dust before sitting at the edge of it. He wasn't in his usual armor today, since he was busy crafting with the others by the firmament, and none of his current gear would pierce holes through the fabric unlike Sidurgu.

"You sound serious. Has this something to do with Rielle? Or something about Myste, perhaps?"

Sidurgu folds his arms and huffs, "No. This isn't about them. Rather, it involves you. You and me."

Ais looks at him, brow raised and tilts his head. 

"I knew you looked familiar, Ais. I'm sorry, it took awhile for me to recall, I couldn't have been older than 8 then."

He felt heart rate increase, and he choked on his next breath. "What are you saying? I don't-"

"Don't tell me you haven't had your suspicions. You had that look on your face when I first found you out there in the snow." Sidurgu calmly turned to Ais, now looking right at him. He unfolds his arms and rests one of them on the cabinet behind him, supporting his weight.

"You are that boy... Your eyes gave me a clue. At that point of time, your mother had those very same eyes. The elders in the tribe and my own parents, often commented on her eyes of quartz. They said she was wise, and her eyes saw through most things like glass. "

Has he stopped breathing? Perhaps he's stopped breathing? Ais didn't know what to think, he couldn't breathe.

"Ariksar. Your name. There's no one else in our tribe that could match your appearance. You...you survived. Just like me." Sidurgu brings a hand up and chuckles weakly into it, seemingly in pain and disbelief himself.

Ais just stares at his companion. Ariksar...

Ariksar.

His name.

_______

_His father had deep blue eyes that matched his long, midnight blue hair, the look of someone who was blessed by the night, graced by the Dusk Mother. His mother's appearance was seemingly normal, white haired and graceful while sporting the build of a hunter - normal until she gazed at you with her rose quartz eyes. They had only wanted the best for their tribe and family, to start anew away from the clutches of Garlemald._

_Even to the end, his mother was wise, and she had bid him farewell after leaving him in the care of a kind chirurgeon's hut nested deep within Coerthas' hills. She knew the tribe was not safe after catching a glimpse of the looks the temple knights gave them. The look of fear, the look of hatred. Her tribe would fight at a major disadvantage with their fists against an equipped army from a city. They travelled as far from Ishgard as they could, but she knew they knew the lands better than the tribe did. They would be found. The tribe elders did not believe in the Ishgardian's hostility, but she knew she had to keep her son safe. It didn't help that he could not adjust to the change in climate as easily due to his young age, and he'd developed a fever a few nights in._

_She had spent several nights searching for possible places to hide for warmth and recuperation, and ultimately chanced upon the chirurgeon. An elderly elezen who'd taken to a small hut, tending to the wounds of an unfortunate traveler in the snow. The kind lady cared not about appearances, for her practice in medicine was bound to the belief that it was for the good of everyone without discrimination. Ariksar was barely 5, and he was brought in sleeping off the fever the next night. "I will come back for him when we are safe, and thank you, kind soul. May Nhaama watch over you."_

_She wasn't sure when she made the promise to return for her son, but now she was sure that she had to break it._

_The fire was uncontrollable, the children had been taken, her husband was lost in the chaos._

_And she was left praying for her son._

______

Sidurgu had found a journal in an old abandoned hut while hiking through the wilderness of Coerthas on one of his usual scoutings - much like the time he found Ais with the temple knights. Covered in dust, leather cracking and peeling, words inside filled with details on the practice of herbs. He would have tossed it aside by then, but something told him to flip to the last filled pages. Curiosity never actually killed anyone, right? He stopped flipping when a piece of parchment fell out. What was written on it made him take a sharp breath. 

_"'Thank you', she said. 'May Nhaama watch over you'."_

The pages he found afterwards told him of Ariksar. How the strange dragon-like young boy with pretty pink eyes would scan through all of the chirurgeon's books quietly through the days, but protected her from beasts and men with such ferocity whenever they headed out to search for herbs or people in need. The lady told him his mother would come back for him when the tribe was safe, and both she and he could do nothing but wait for that day. 

_"He has grown and he's like a son to me. I have hidden him from the Holy See for more than 10 years, and I fear the worst has happened to his family, so I do what I can. However, he needs to grow up in a place where he can learn from others his age. He needs friends, not an old soul like me. I pray to the Twelve he finds a place where he may belong one day."_

That was the last record of Ariksar, and the rest briefly mentioned an odd phenomenon occurring. Likely the events leading up to the calamity. The writings had ended there.

Sidurgu had slid the journal over on the sheets, and Ais picked up the crumbly journal gently in his trembling hands. He'd been dreaming for this day to come for the past three years, but why did it feel so empty? His fingertips traced the cracked leather slowly, hesitant about opening it up. Who would have thought his past would’ve been written down, even though partly, just as he does similarly right now?

Sidurgu had walked across the room to pull a chair over to the bedside to face Ais, spun it around and sat on it with his arms folded on the backrest. Ais was in a daze, staring into nothing.

"So, where does your heart lie? Do you now know where you belong or does your heart still yearn, Ariksar?"


End file.
